The impact of ICT on the way we live in the modern day has continued to make it a force to be

reckoned with in the 21st century, this is because ICT has altered the way of live and it is a

continuum, from business to media, up to economy and even the new media, ICT has ignited and

provoked radical and drastic changes that have affected and revolutionized every sector, most

especially in immediacy and timeliness of news. Information and Communication Technology

not only facilitate and enhance the creation, processing, sharing and dissemination of information

in the media industry but also the immediacy and timeliness of news is of a high priority, much

as it has also altered the understanding about the role of the information consumers, from mere

passive to active players in the creation and distribution of ideas.

It is becoming difficult to arrive at a single definition or concept of Information Communication

Technology; this is because as we speak different state of the art in ICT gadgets or tools are

being brought into the markets, with many more discoveries ongoing, the complexity and

experience about ICT arguably inform variety of definitions.

Rouse, (2023) explained that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is the use of

computing and telecommunication technologies, systems and tools to facilitate the way

information is created, collected, processed, transmitted and stored. Such devices, according to

Rouse, includes computing technologies like servers, laptop computers and software

applications, as well as the wired and wireless communication technologies that support

telephones, the Internet, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the metaverse. The goal of ICT is to
improve access to information and to ease the human-to-human, human-to-machine and

machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and be more efficient.

Pratt, (2019) is of the view that the whole narrative about ICT should be seen from being an

infrastructure and components that enable modern computing. Pratt holds that ICT is generally

accepted to mean all devices, networking components, applications and systems that combined

or allow people and organizations (i.e., businesses, nonprofit agencies, governments and criminal

enterprises) to interact in the digital world.

UNESCO’s International Institute for educational Planning (2009) conceptualized Information

and communication technologies (ICT) as a diverse set of technological devices and resources

used to send, store, create, share, or exchange information these tools and resources include

computers, the internet, live broadcasting technologies, recorded broadcasting technologies.

Attempting to provide an insight into the evolution of ICT, Rouse, (2023) traced the concept of

ICT back to the 19th century with the development of the telegraph and the telephone, the

inventions according to the ICT expert revolutionized the way people worked and interacted

socially by making it possible for one person to communicate with another person in a different

location in real or near-real time.

In the middle of the 20th century, radio and television introduced the concept of mass

communication, and by the end of the century, the internet had become a mainstream tool for

communication, commerce and entertainment. Its use continued to grow rapidly in the following

years, revolutionizing the way people work and digitally transforming the way people

communicate (Rouse, 2023).

Today, broadband internet and smartphones have made it easier than ever for people to create

access, share and consume information and most likely in the future, ICT promises even more

exciting developments. 6G networks will provide faster and more reliable connectivity,

generative AI systems like Chat GPT will change the way people create and acquire information

and emerging technologies like quantum computing and Web3 will inspire a wide variety of new

ICT tools and applications.

Because of the above development, Godsheart and Kalu (2023) posited that the world has been

enshrined into a global village earlier predicted by Marshall McLuhan, resulting from

technological emergence and advance in today’s era. Advance in modernization and information

technologies the duo believe have made work easier for media practitioners and further helped

extensively in the production of newspapers/magazines. The ubiquitous nature of the internet

which provides the infrastructure that oils interconnectivity of different modern gadgets aids the

wide spread use of social media, these have equally lessened the burden of newspaper production

in the world.

Rabiu, (2023) joined the conversation when he explained that the social media are the most

recent of the mass media which have consolidated all other mass media using computer

networks. Rabiu, further said inability to use the internet is a distinct shortcoming to the

individuals, describing the internet like a party to which everyone is invited and has expanded

the frontiers of information transfer.

With the availability of the social media, the platforms therein have changed the narratives in the

industry. Today, social media is a veritable source of news all over the world. In many occasions,

issues that emanated from those active platforms have continued to provide leads to many
important stories, beyond this, interactions between editors at the headquarters of many

newspaper organisations and their field reporters have almost reduced to social media platforms.

Assignments are today being shared on What Sapp platform, same way stories could be sent for

vetting through same platform or emails. This is a clear departure from what was obtainable in

the pre-internet era.

All these features have continued to manifest on the mode of operations of professionals in the

newspaper industry, from the reporters on the field, to desk editor, editors and even other people

in production section. Most of the long and cumbersome roads of production procedure have

been reduced to what a few people could achieve.

Fab-Ukozor, (2009) also agreed that the technological breakthrough such as computer has

simplified the cumbersome structure of editorial organisation. Today Fab-Ukozor, further

explained that reporters are able to substantially avoid the routine paper writing of story but

typeset and send their stories to the editor using the computer or smart phones. With computers;

too, editors will do the editing and design of the pages. Compositors are no longer needed

because the entire graphic representation of types, illustrations, photographs and page makeup of

even display advertisements are done using the computer.

With some better and fast way to execute some of the daily routine in the newspaper production,

the wide range responsibilities such as editing, page making, database, photo imaging have been

greatly eased with cutting-edge facilities to newspaper and magazine business which could now

streamline and integrate intra-wings functions within a newspaper/magazine. The use of telefax,

websites, online database, web-based information sites, and online readers and newsmakers,
made the cumbersome job of information collection and reporting easier than ever before

(Godsheart & Kalu, 2023).

The facilities of emails, personal blogs and online discussion forum further have widened the

canvas of information as the news of remotest areas could be retained within the headlines

information and communication technology made its presence felt in all quarters of news

quarters. It not only impacted the functioning of newspapers and various departments but even

gave birth to new avatar, the e-paper. Accordingly, Godsheart and Kalu, observed that limitation

of circulation of print versions, reach and accessibility, cost of newsprint abetted by

unfathomable vista of Internet encouraged Newspapers/Magazine Companies in Nigeria to

launch electronic version of editions. Thus, information and communication technology made

both the newspaper and magazines available literally with a click of mouse anywhere anytime.

With the writing, sourcing and even editing of stories finally made easy and still being improved

upon, the age long tradition of printing various newspaper versions for different geographical

location in a massive country like Nigeria has been eliminated. Presently, the use of advanced

commercial printing machinery has also enabled the print industry (newspapers and magazines),

to print copies with well-defined, capable of producing high precision graphic prints along with

other direct mail printing services.

References

Adigwe, I. (2012) The impact of Information and Communication Technology (ict) on News
Processing, Reporting and Dissemination on Broadcast stations in Lagos, Nigeria.
Library Philosophy e- journal
Fab-Ukozor, N. (2009) Mass Communication in the Emergent Information Society (ed.)
Konkwo, D. E. J. Alphabet Nigeria publishers.

Godsheart, O. U. and Kalu U. (2023) The Impact of Information and Communication

Technology on Newspaper and Magazine Production in Nigeria. Scholarly Journal of
Social Sciences Research | ISSN: 2955-0785 Vol. 2, Issue 5 (May, 2023)

Pratt, M. (2019) Definition of Information and Communications Technology, or Technologies

https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/ICT-information-and-communications-
technology-or-technologies
Rabiu, M. S. (2023) Effective Newswriting &editing for Mass Media. Lecture Material for PhD
Programme, Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
Rouse, M. (2023) What is ICT? Retrieved from
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24152/information-and-communications-
technology-ict

UIS (2009) Guide to Measuring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in

Education. Retrieved from https://learningportal.iiep.unesco.org/en/glossary/information-
and-communication-technologies-ict